


How to change the word, live in it and maybe eat some cheese fries at the end

by yellow_ferrari



Category: Hamilton - Miranda (Broadway Cast) RPF
Genre: Future Fic, Gen, I tagged a lot of characters who only feature in one line and I apologize in advance, and everyone is super famous now - as they should be tbh, hamfam, it's ten years later and Lin is frankly overwhelmed, reunion concert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 13:59:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13055409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellow_ferrari/pseuds/yellow_ferrari
Summary: Not for the first time today Lin is thinking he should have titled tonight's festivities 'Slightly older, significantly less scrappy, but quite frankly always hungry'.





	How to change the word, live in it and maybe eat some cheese fries at the end

**Author's Note:**

  * For [myrifique](https://archiveofourown.org/users/myrifique/gifts).



> Dear myrifique, 
> 
> thank you for loving Lin as much as I do and for putting the idea for a Hamilton reunion into your prompts and therefore into my brain. This is what I did with it. I hope you enjoy and I'm wishing you wonderfully Happy Holidays <3

No one tells you that life goes on after you've changed the world. That you have to navigate this scary, brand new world of your own creation and absolutely no one has a map. 

That's really the one thing that strikes Lin today. 

It is August 6th, 2025, a sweltering New York city day, smog warning in effect, and Hamilton: An American Musical opened on Broadway ten years ago today. And Lin-Manuel Miranda's world has never been the same since. 

Sure, Lin had had his share of successes before Hamilton, greater, smaller, personal and professional. He didn't come out of nowhere, wasn't an overnight success and he secretly resents this narrative.  
But absolutely nothing could have prepared him for the insane fucking madness that Hamilton turned his life into. Turned the _world_ into. Which may sound like an absurd thing to say, 'hey, I changed the world, no big deal or anything', but there is really no other way to explain it. Not to himself anyway.

Lin wasn't at all prepared for Hamilton to have the impact it did. He knew it was a great show, absolutely, the best thing he'd ever written. He was _so fucking_ proud of it. Even then.  


But did he forsee it bringing forth positive change in the theater world, becoming a touchstone for diverse casting on Broadway and initiating a cultural conversation? Did he anticipate politicians and superstars quoting it, did he see people getting tattoos of the words he wrote, did he imagine the glorious heights this show would lead not only him, but the entire cast to? Did he envision the global phenomenon this show would become, the million-dollar movie that would be written, re-written, almost made and is now back on again for next year? Did he think, honestly think, in his wildest dreams, that this show would change the world? This show? His show? The show that came from his own, tiny little overly active brain? Oh _hell_ no. Not in a million years. 

Lin can't take the subway in New York anymore. Or anywhere else, really. Hasn't been able to for a few years. He'd get mobbed. He has bodyguards now. His children go to a terrifyingly exclusive private school. Lin isn't always sure he loves all this, the fame, the attention. But you do what you gotta do, especially when you have kids. And please, don't get him wrong. The perks of being Lin-Manuel Miranda are plentiful and joyous and he never wants to go back to being a starving artist if he can help it. But. Y'know. It's a lot.  


"Broadway stars don't usually get this _big_ ", people would say, "how did you do it?". And the truth is, Lin has no idea. It was just one thing after another. And a combination of dumb luck, determination and an insatiable drive to create. But the one thing he does know, with absolute certainty, is that it all started with Hamilton. 

He reads a historical biography on vacation once and suddenly President Obama is shaking his hand. That is what it feels like now, in retrospect. Like a crazy rush. And not like the seven years it actually took. The drafts, the cuts, the changes, the demos, the mixtape, the run at the Public... an endless chain of events that lead to the occasion we're about to celebrate tonight. Opening night on Broadway. Feels like yesterday. Time flies, they say, when you're changing the world. 

\-----

Ten years. Wow. Yeah. _Fuck_. So of course, people are making a fuss. There's going to be a big fancy gala, with proceeds going to Eliza's charity. There's interviews and features for magazines, TV, Playbill.com. There's a re-issue of the cast album, a special edition with additional material, remixes, cut songs. 

And then of course, there's the concert. The big 10-year reunion concert with all of the original Broadway cast. And guests. Cast members of the other productions, the tour, London, Puerto Rico. Plus a handful of rappers, popstars, politicians and whoever else Lin felt needed to be there. 

Because of course Lin organized it all himself. It's one thing to leave the show in capable hands once he'd moved on from day-to-day proceedings. But it's an entirely different thing to organize this reunion shindig. After all, this is his baby. And what kind of shitty parent doesn't go all out for their baby's birthday?

\-----

In the obnoxious, armored town car on the way to the theater, Lin's young daughter Nani, nestled in Vanessa's arms, leans over to her dad and whispers '"Where are we going again, daddy?"

"We're going to see all our friends and celebrate a show that your daddy wrote."

"Oh, yeah. The show that changed the world." She buries her nose in a game on her phone again, like it's nothing, like she didn't just say this completely profound thing, the same thing that's been running around Lin's mind all day. 

Vanessa giggles as she and Lin lock eyes and he immediately know what they're both thinking. _Hey. Our kid is pretty great_.

\-----

Hamilton is still running. Because why wouldn't it be. But tonight there is no show. The Richard Rodgers theater is being occupied by the one-night-only spectacular that is the Hamilton 10-year reunion concert. 

The backstage is already bustling with people when Lin gets there, tech crew mostly, setting up, even though it's still over four hours to go to the show. Lin has a lot to organize and absolutely nothing will be left to chance tonight.

The moment he steps into his old dressing room, Lin is a total mess. He can't even explain why. But suddenly he's a jittery, anxious ball of feelings and has to stop himself from straight-up turning around and calling the town car back to drive him home.  
Maybe it's because he hasn't actually been in here in a long time. Years. The first couple of years, he'd occasionally pop by, see how things were going, say hi to friends in the cast and the crew. But over time, most people he knew had left and he definitely didn't want to become that weird old writer who hangs around his old show too much and overstays his welcome. Especially since this isn't even the only one of his shows currently running on Broadway and not the most current. But yeah. Wow. Feelings. _Shit._

The dressing room still looks exactly the same. Lin commandeers it from the show's current star, who is 23 and perfect and wasn't even in high school yet when this show premiered. And yeah, the kid has put some personal touches in here, but the bare bones of the room are instantly familiar to Lin. Which helps. It's weirdly, in a way, like coming home. He looks at himself in the mirror, takes a deep breath and his anxiety subsides a little. 

\-----

Twenty minutes later, there's a gentle knock on the door and before Lin can open it, the sonorous voice of his best friend in the whole wide world fills the room. 

"Can you believe it's been ten years?"

Chris Jackson walks into the dressing room like he walks into any room, with a calm, easy confidence and a warm smile, and gives Lin a patented Chris Jackson Hug™– famously the best hugs in the world – and then he lets himself sink down into the couch, like he's done so many times before, so many years ago.

"I know. It feels like two."

"No, are you kidding, it feels like fifty. We're old."

Lin laughs at that and Chris laughs too, that gorgeous laugh that first made Lin think of his friend as presidential, and suddenly it's like no time at all has passed. Even though it has and Chris is an Oscar winner who lives in L.A. but none of that matters right now. Lin doesn't even remember why he was nervous in the first place. Ok, he does maybe. But it doesn't matter anymore. He's where he's meant to be, with the people he's meant to be here with. _We got this_.

\-----

More people trickle in, some come by and say hi to Lin, others wander around nostalgically and point out cool backstage spots where significant historical shenanigans took place to their children or friends. You know, historical. Ten years ago.  


Eventually, someone calls everybody to the stage. And the stage is the same, too. Sure, there have been minor tweaks over the years, updates to the turntable mechanic and other things, but essentially, this is the stage that David Korins designed. Who is also here, standing in a corner, chatting to Paul Tazewell. 

It's not like Lin doesn't see most of these people at least somewhat regularly, but seeing them all together in one place and that place being _here_? Oh god, he's gonna cry, isn't he?

\-----

The last time most of them were together in one place, Lin thinks, was just over a year ago, at Jonathan Groff's wedding. Jon had shot a movie in England a few years back and fallen for the beautiful, but hitherto closeted lead actor. Some personal revelations, several tabloid stories and a frankly needlessly saccharine love story later, their wedding had taken place on the grounds of a fancy British castle last summer.  
And as Jon, who's with his husband and looking annoyingly content, makes eye contact with Lin now, across the stage of the Richard Rodgers theater, he's probably thinking about that, too. Or about all the time they spent together here.

"I still want to play Angelica", Jon mouthes, and Lin has to hold onto the damn wooden stairs to not keel over laughing. Oh. Yeah. He's _home_. 

Speaking of Angelica. A moment later, Renée runs up to Lin and gives him the most enthusiastic hug, already having cried most of her make-up off, but still being the absolute vision she always is. Her children are there and they're gigantic. They're actual fully-grown humans now. Damn.  
Lin asks her when she goes back to start shooting the new season of her critically acclaimed TV series in which she is the lead. On Monday, she says. The future never sleeps for the best people Lin knows. 

To Lin's right, Nani tears herself away from Vanessa's hand, because she spots her friend Lucille in the wings, who's close enough to her in age that they basically grew up together. The two girls run around like someone's put fresh batteries into them and the pure sunshine of Leslie's smile meets Lin's and there's an unspoken truth passing between them, encompassing their daughters, this stage, Phillip and Theodosia and everything in between. 

Javi is here, too. Whose passion got him banned from twitter and whose advocacy got him nominated for no less than four humanitarian awards. He's currently regaling a captivated group, including Lin's precocious pre-teen son Sebastian, with tales of his latest travels. 

Jazzy and Anthony and their veritable army of small dogs occupy a corner of the stage and Daveed and Oak are effusively fist-bumping in another. How come none of them have aged at all? Or maybe they have, Lin just can't see it. Because he is now positively ancient and younger people are all starting to look the same to him. It's surely only a matter of time now until he yells at some youths to get off his lawn. And he doesn't even have a lawn. 

Not for the first time today Lin is thinking he should have titled tonight's festivities 'Slightly older, significantly less scrappy, but quite frankly always hungry'. 

God. Yes. _Hungry_. How long until he can get outta here and get some cheese fries?

A radiant smile disrupts that thought, belonging to a woman who did get older, but in the best, most elegant way. Pippa is wearing a green dress and red lipstick and Lin finally understands how lovingly exasperated Vanessa gets whenever the two women meet, because how is Pippa looking _this_ flawless while her rambunctious four-year-old twin sons are tearing her in opposite directions by her hands? Unfair.  
She lets go of her children long enough to hug Lin and as her face is next to his, he can see that she's been crying, too. No one's getting out unscathed tonight, it seems.

"You know, this morning while getting these two dressed, I kept thinking about how they probably wouldn't exist without you."

Pippa goes on, in that steady, eloquent voice of hers that Lin loves so much, about how her getting cast in Hamilton led to Jon introducing her to her husband Steve and Lin is listening, he promises, but he's starting to get overwhelmed again. By the love in this room. And by history and intertwining fates and by how this brand new ten-year-old world that he still has trouble living in seeems to be inhabited by a hundred million people.  


And because she is the best of wives and best of women, Vanessa senses this immediately and grabs Lin's hand tightly in hers and centers them both. She always drowns out the noise. Even if it's just the noise in his head. 

"Hey babe?"

"Yeah?"

"Tommy and Lac are going to come to take you away in a minute. They want you to give a speech. I wasn't supposed to tell you, but you look like you could use a little heads-up. Are you ok?"

"I am now. Thank you."

She plants a kiss on him and sends him on his way, whispering something that suspiciously sounds like "go change the world again". But he can't be sure. 

And before he knows it, Tommy and Lac, his cabinet, are taking Lin by both shoulders and gently shoving him into the middle of the stage, where someone hands him a microphone and from the depth of the throng of people around him, a steady chant of "speech, speech, speech" takes form. 

"I've been thinking a lot about changing the world today", he starts, trying to get his voice to steady. Deep breaths, Lin. He isn't nervous anymore, really. It's just a lot. All of this. Is a lot. It's been a lot since he got up this morning and it's still a lot tonight. But Lin keeps his gaze steady on Vanessa and continues.

"People tell me that I've changed the world and maybe that's true. My world has definitely changed. The world has changed for a lot of people in this room. And standing here, on this stage, surrounded by all of you, I have come to the conclusion that _if_ I have changed the world, and lemme tell you, this crazy new world is thoroughly overwhelming and I don't know how to live in it, but it is unquestionably a good thing.... " Take a breath, Lin. Look at V. Check. "So. If the world is changed, maybe I did it. But I sure as hell didn't do it alone."

\-----

The concert goes over without a hitch and down in a blaze of glory, because of course it does. Other than maybe the buckets of tears that everyone cries. But that's pretty much to be expected at any Hamilton-related event. And it's not just everyone on stage that's crying, the whole audience is a sobbing mess for the entire three hours. People sob through songs, through speeches, the rumor goes around that people are group-hugging while cathartically crying in the bathroom. Beyoncé comes out and sings Satisfied at some point. It's a lot. Bit of a day. 

But as Lin, Vanessa and the kids are eating thoroughly well-deserved burgers and cheese fries at Shake Shack at the end of the night, - finally - Lin can't help thinking that if changing the world leads to nights like tonight, maybe he should do it more often. Maybe right away. Didn't he have that idea he's been putting off working on? He makes a note in his phone to get to work on that tomorrow.  


And as Vanessa smiles serenly at him, while trying to get a very tired and moody Sebastian to eat his fries, he knows that she knows that they're going to be ok, living in this brand new world, this world that Hamilton made. And when this show turns 20 in another ten years, they'll do this all again. Because for cheese fries at the end of a beautiful night spent crying with his favorite people, it all will have been worth it. 


End file.
